Poke
Author: Ukari (translated with author’s permission, please visit their website to see the original Japanese works!)
To say here is far, and to call yonder nearby. Stories on the edge of the every day, strange tales you may or may not be moved by. Strange, curious, fantastic stories told by me, you, him and her. There are many stories but they’re all concluded within a single page, each story around 200 to 1200 characters in length, a short story collection you can easily read. Please enjoy them. Updated every Saturday at 6pm.
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I was walking through the park one morning when my eyes fell on a carp in the pond.
It was rather large, yet it was in the shallow part of the pond with its dorsal fin poking out of the water. Its body was moving, but it showed no signs of moving away from that particular spot.
I sneaked closer to see what it was doing.
Keeping an eye on the shadow I cast, I peeked at it and realised ti was probably looking for food in the mud.
Still, it was a little slow. I was that close to it and it still hadn’t noticed me.
A flame of mischief lit within me. Intending just to frighten it, I poked its dorsal fin with my shoe. The startled carp flipped in a panic and then took off for deeper waters.
That night.
I was sound asleep when something poked me in the side. Each poke was only tiny, but it was something hard and sharp, and it repeatedly poked my ribs, so it actually hurt quite a bit.
‘You asshole,’ I thought and got up.
But nobody was there.
Sitting up, I rubbed my side. I could still feel the sensation of being poked.
“…What the hell, man?”
I muttered, and then I heard the sound of a fish jumping into water somewhere nearby.